NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

One of the most curious creatures that I’ve met as I’ve traveled to Okinawa, Japan and South Korea is a particular form of Rightist conservative. The majority of people whom I’ve interacted with during my research and solidarity trips over the past three years have all been leftists, albeit a variety of leftists. I talk and work with liberals, progressives, peace activists, decolonization and demilitarization activists and so the conversation usually sticks to a pretty familiar side of the ideological spectrum. But as I’ve travelled the other side, with its own diversity of opinion has always been there. During my trip to Okinawa last month pro-military, rightist conservatives were always around the edges of my sphere of being, threatening to enter, but never really making a solid appearance. For example during a two day symposium at Okinawan International University on demilitarism and decolonization, a threat was called in to one of the organizers, stating that conservat

I know I'm supposed to be posting the 2007 testimonies to the United Nations on the question of Guam this week, but when I saw this on commondreams.org, I couldn't resist. This letter, which is from a minister in the Venezuelan government to the Washington Post is rich in terms of teasing out the ways in which the media, while supposedly being an antagonistic institution in relation to the government, in reality regularly serves as its voice box. For instance, as this letter shows, even the so-called "liberal" media of the Washington Post is perfectly willing to accept the US government's talking points when it comes to Hugo Chavez, Venezeula and their neighbor Columbia. Venezuela is run by a thug and a dictator who is recklessly trying to cling to permanent power, while in Columbia the president is making similar moves yet somehow these actions don't merit the same attacks. Furthermore, the idea that the media is supposed to be creative of critical about the

Published on Thursday, July 26, 2007 by The Nation Clinton, Kissinger and the Corruptions of Empire by John Nichols Of all the corruptions of empire, few are darker than the claim that diplomacy must be kept secret from the citizenry.This hide-it-from-the people faith that only a cloistered group of unelected and often unaccountable elites - embodied by the nefarious and eminently indictable Henry Kissinger - is capable of steering the affairs of state pushes Americans out of the processes that determine whether their sons and daughters will die in distant wars, whether the factories where they worked will be shuttered, whether their country will respond to or neglect genocide, whether their tax dollars will go to pay for the unspeakable. It allows for the dirty game where foreign countries are included or excluded from contact with the U.S. based on unspoken whims and self-serving schemes, where trade deals are negotiated without congressional oversight and then presented in take-it

Published on Tuesday, May 30, 2006 by the Independent / UK Why It's Over For America by Noam Chomsky An inability to protect its citizens. The belief that it is above the law. A lack of democracy. Three defining characteristics of the 'failed state'. And that, says Noam Chomsky, is exactly what the US is becoming. In an exclusive extract from his devastating new book," Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy ," America's leading thinker explains how his country lost its way. The selection of issues that should rank high on the agenda of concern for human welfare and rights is, naturally, a subjective matter. But there are a few choices that seem unavoidable, because they bear so directly on the prospects for decent survival. Among them are at least these three: nuclear war, environmental disaster, and the fact that the government of the world's leading power is acting in ways that increase the likelihood of these catastrophes. I

Published on November 24, 2005 by CommonDreams.org 10 Reasons to Give Thanks by Medea Benjamin This Thanksgiving, we who yearn for peace and justice have a lot to be thankful for. For starters… We're thankful that Congressman John Murtha has joined us in calling for an end to the occupation of Iraq. We’re thankful that the majority of Americans now agree with us that this war in Iraq was a mistake and the troops should come home as soon as possible. We’re thankful that Lewis Libby has been indicted, that Karl Rove has become a liability for the Bush administration, and that Tom DeLay has fallen from grace. We’re thankful that the George Bush’s approval ratings are under 40% and falling, and that his agenda—from the privatization of social security to the repeal of the estate tax—is unraveling. We're thankful Judy Miller will no longer be reporting for the New York Times and that we now have a blossoming independent press—including weeklies, websites, blogs, community radi

Published on Sunday, November 6, 2005 by The Nation Chávez and Maradona Lead Massive Rebuke of Bush by Jordana Timerman Some aspects of George Bush's travels have become commonplace, including massive protests, sporadic violence and tight security operations. All of these usual elements--notably the imperial-style arrival of the US president with an entourage of 2,000 people and four AWACS surveillance systems--were present at the Fourth Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina. But the opposition to Bush and his proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), as well as neoconservative economic policies and capitalism in general, took on a creative twist this time, with a massive march that ended in a rally at a sports stadium involving a heterogeneous group of Latin American leaders: Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, Bolivian socialist leader Evo Morales, Argentine leaders of the unemployed, Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, singers from all ov

HUGO CHAVEZ! I always find myself being very skeptical of him, yet every Venezuelan I've met or heard from says he is truly doing good for his people... Here are some articles, which don't paint him as Washington does, as an enemy of his people. But rather the way he really is, as an enemy of Washington, but a leader of his people. Yanggen guaha chansa-mu para un egga' i mibi, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," egga' ha'. Maolek na perspective put hayi Si Chavez, yan i estorian put nai i US yan i manakhilo' giya Venezuela, ma chagi muna'suha gui' gi un "coup." Chavez's Programs para i manaisalape http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0817-01.htm Mas put sa' hafa mangge Si Chavez http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0816-03.htm I US, ma keketahgue Si Chavez http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0218-01.htm Election Stuff http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0816-07.htm Sinangan-na Si Chavez http://www.commondreams.org/h